Customer Reviews

MCAD Developing and Implementing Windows-based Applications with Microsoft Visual C#(TM) .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio(R) .NET Exam Cram 2 (Exam Cram 70-316)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book does the one thing I needed most: it was a quick reference that covered all the test topics in just enough detail, and nothing more, and the two practice tests are of striking similarity to a real test (the tests on the CD, however, are considerably more difficult than the real test - I failed these and still did great on the real test).

When I opened the book I was only strongly familiar with the C# language proper, the form designer, and some basic controls; when I finished, 2 days later, I had memorized all the necessary little details for a dozen topics I knew nothing about before, including nearly all of ADO.NET. I think I would have failed the exam before reading it, but after reading it I beat the pass mark by a wide margin. One piece of advice: if you're after an MCAD, go ahead and pick up Exam Cram for 70-320, the next exam, and read Chapter 1 to get more important details on ADO.NET.

Now the bad. This book is great for passing the exam in a hurry, but you don't get the in-depth knowledge of and familiarity with the topics you get from hands-on experience. It is true to its name, an exam cram guide, covering only the specific details essential for the exam. I was also displeased that it contained a large number of typographical errors, misspellings, and, worse still, misleadingly used circles where boxes were intended for some questions in the second practice exam. It also made some recommendations of questionable accuracy.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book to anyone looking solely to pass the exam in a hurry.

There is no question about it -- the 70-316 is a tough exam. I studied for 2 months, about 10 hours per week, and passed the exam with a score of 900 out of 1000. I used both this Exam Cram book and the "MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-316)" by Amit Kalani. In short, I found that this book was the most efficient study guide and allowed me to learn the most material in the shortest amount of time.

My recommendation for anyone studying for the 70-316 would be to gain a solid foundation through the "MCAD/MCSD Training Guide" but then once you feel comfortable with the basic features of Visual Studio and .NET, ditch the "MCAD/MCSD Training Guide" and switch over to this book. You will learn a lot faster by using this book as a general outline and making up your own examples in Visual Studio and doing your own research on the topics presented in each chapter. If you simply try to memorize everything then studying for the exam will be boring, frustrating, and difficult.

I definitely had fun once I started using this book and working through my own examples. It also helped to work backwards from the practice tests, by going back to Visual Studio and actually writing code to help understand any difficult or confusing questions. The practice tests in this book generally provide a good indication of what the real test will be like, although I found they contained fewer questions of medium difficulty than the real exam. The practice tests contained more questions that were either trivially easy or extremely difficult. On the real exam, most of the questions were of medium+ difficulty. Unlike the practice tests in this book, the real exam had very few easy questions and only a few questions that I would rank as "very difficult."

There were only a few questions in this book (maybe 1-2) that contained mistakes, but this wasn't a big problem, especially if you go back and work through the questions in Visual Studio. I did not use any of the Prep-logic tests included on the CD, but from reading other reviews, I understand that they are of dubious quality. I also didn't particularly care for the way the book displays answers directly under each question. Even if you use a piece of paper to cover the answers while you read the questions it is sometimes possible to slip and "accidentally" see the answer. Overall my complaints are minor and the book still deserves the 5 stars I am giving it.

This book is just like other Kalani's books!
By reading it a couple of times during 2 months, I passed the exam easily!
Would like to recommend to those who are preparing for the 70-316 test!

The 70-316 tests Windows knowledge. The 70-316 Training Guide and Exam Cram provide a thorough understanding of using Visual Studio, C# and Microsoft .Net for programming Windows applications.

Like all Exam Crams, this book is meant as a review. As such, it is more than adequate. Read the Training Guide first for a thorough undertanding of the Windows concepts. Then read this Exam Cram 70-316 as a review before the test.

This book helped me pass 70-316. The book is well written and the two sample exams are close to that of the actual exam. The CD included has a ton of information, including the other QUE book in electronic format and yet another sample exam.

I used a few books and this was by far the most beneficial.

This book was exceptionally helpful in preparing me for the exam. If you want to pass 70-316 and you were only going to have one resource, this is the book you should have. I also studied the MCAD book and the combo was more than adequate (862 on the exam).

I reviewed three books for the exam; Microsoft's, Chris Sells', and the Exam Cram book. I could have passed the exam with this book alone. Be aware that this book is only good for passing the exam, though. If you want to write a real Windows-based Application, you'll have to implement many more complicated topics than are covered here. As usual, the accompanying practice exam on the CD is not useful, but the content of the book more than makes up for it.

If you are looking for a quick and dirty way to gettin' going on your MCAD then you have found the right book.

This is a light-weight study guide that covers only the essentials. Because of this, you don't get full treatment on a lot of subjects (such as delegates), but that's not what this book is for. If you are newer to .NET and C# then it's probably wise to get the big ol' MCAD/MCSD Exam 70-316 by Amit Kalani (one of the authors for this book).

There are ten questions at the end of each chapter to help reinforce your knowledge. There are also two test exams and a CD with a PrepLogic practice exam. In addition, there is a handy pull-out card that will help just before taking the test. There is a lot crammed into this little book!

There is only one downside that I can think of: At the end of each chapter there are 10 questions right... well that's all fine and dandy, but each question has the answer right below it, making it easy to accidently cheat. I have to use a folded piece of paper to make sure I don't accidently see the answer. This isn't a huge deal at all, but it wouldn't have taken anymore effort by the author to just throw the answers at the end of the ten questions... this is just being picky (and not really worth dinking a point... this book is still darn good).

If you found yourself needing to pass the exam in just a matter of weeks (maybe your boss is making you do it... like in my situation) then this book is perfect, especially if you already have at least a little bit of experience developing windows apps.

This Exam Cram gives good coverage of topics. However, I am a little uncomfortable with using a book that appears to be a synopsis of a Que Study Guide by the same authors.

Problems do arise. For example, some review questions at the end of a chapter address specific material not covered in the chapter.

I used this book as follows: I read a chapter, and if I found the material unfamiliar, I looked up the information in Microsoft documentation or MSDN. When used this way, the book is fine (but I would not rate it with 5 stars).

Very nice study guide, nicely priced. Read all chapters and then take the mini-exam after reading each chapter. Then before moving on to the next chapter, bring up Visual Studio and go learn those weak areas. At the end of the book, two great sample exams. They alone are worth the price of the book.